These tiny crustaceans are easily recognized, filter-feeding
crustaceans in the Order Anostraca that are found in fishless vernal
pools and hypersaline saline lakes and ponds around the world. Defecto (2002) provides the following description of brine shrimp.

"Brine Shrimp are distributed throughout the world, occurring on every continent except Antarctica (Browne and MacDonald 1982). These tiny shrimp inhabit hypersaline lakes and ponds of varying ionic composition, temperature, and altitude (Triantaphyllidis et al. 1998). Found in terminal inland salt lakes and commercial salterns, Artemia can tolerate salinity up to five times higher than seawater (Browne and Macdonald 1982). In addition, brine shrimp have been found in waters high in carbonate with pH values as high as 10 (Cole and Brown, 1967). Artemia populations have been observed at altitudes from below sea level to approximately 4500 meters above sea level in both humid and arid climates (Triantaphyllidis et al. 1998). Because Artemia are susceptible to predators such as fish, birds and other invertebrates, they typically will inhabit water with ionic compositions too high for their major predators to tolerate (Browne and Macdonald 1982)."

In
BC, these shrimps have been reported from several saline lakes and
ponds. Saline lakes and ponds are distinctive and are easily recognized
from a distance by the white ring of encrusted salts and minerals
around their shorelines. This ring expands as summer draw down occurs
and water evaporates, leaving the lake or pond dry and encrusted. Examples of saline lakes and ponds in BC include
Spotted Lake, Mahoney Lake and Goodenough Lake.

Goodenough Lake, BC, photo by Ian Gardiner

"Mating swarm of Artemia franciscana. The
haemoglobin production (red colouration) is in response to the lowered
oxygen content of the water resulting from the high concentration of
dissolved solids". Photo by Ian Gardiner

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Ever looked a fairy shrimp in the eye? Photographer Ian Gardiner took a close look at the Alkali Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta mackini), below, and took some great shots. View his other photos for this species here. Stay tuned for more on BC's fairy shrimps, inhabitants of our salt lakes and ponds.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

"You state on your site that there are no Brown Recluse Spiders in B.C. I have a friend in Duncan bitten on the foot which was diagnosed as Brown Recluse bite... [and]...I know a fellow in Kelowna that was bitten a
couple years back and he had the inside muscle on his lower arm taken
out in the hospital, wrist to inner elbow...he was also diagnosed as Brown Recluse bitten............What is your response? Do we have a clone here in B.C.?.....submitted by Jamie

Answer:

Dear Jamie,

It is certainly unfortunate that your friends have suffered disfiguring and debilitating medical conditions.

It
is also unfortunate that a small minority of medical professionals
apparently continue to provide erroneous diagnoses of brown recluse
spider bite in the absence of any credible evidence. If an appropriate
diagnosis had been made your...friend’s foot would almost certainly
have healed ages ago and your.... buddy might not have had to have
muscle tissue removed.

Although
I cannot diagnose what sort of medical conditions your friends have
suffered, their conditions were definitely not caused by bites from
brown recluse or other spiders.

Over
the last 20 or 30 years a large number of peer-reviewed articles
published in professional medical journals, ranging from Canadian Family
Physician to Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine, have
completely debunked the popular mythology surrounding brown recluse
spiders and their bites, including establishing the following facts:

it
is very rare for anyone to suffer a bite from a brown recluse spider,
even in areas of North America where they are very common

most true bites never result in medically significant issues

it is exceedingly rare for a bite to cause tissue necrosis

nearly
all medical conditions that have been blamed on bites from brown
recluse or other spiders are actually caused by other medical conditions
completely unrelated to any sort of spider

the
medical conditions that have been mistakenly diagnosed as resulting
from brown recluse spider bites are numerous and range from simple
chemical and radiant heat burns, through antibiotic-resistant bacterial
infections and flesh-eating diseases, to syphilis, various cancers, and
anthrax

erroneous
diagnosis of a medical condition as being the result of a bite from a
brown recluse or other spider usually results in inappropriate treatment
which can delay healing and/or cause unnecessary suffering even to the
point of death

brown
recluse spiders are not often found outside of their natural range in
the south central United States and definitely do not occur anywhere in
or near Canada.

I
urge you to take the time to learn the facts about spiders and share
the knowledge with your friends and their doctors. Forget the mythology
– no one needs to suffer as your friends apparently have.

A few good websites that will help bring you up to speed on spider bite facts and fiction are listed here:

Rick
Vetter’s spider research website is absolutely the best place to find
anything you need to know about brown recluse and other spiders of real
or imagined medical importance - http://spiders.ucr.edu/

Colorado
State University’s “mystery bites and itches” website provides an
excellent review of all sorts of beasts that have been fairly or
unfairly blamed for causing medical concerns in humans. The spider
section is especially good. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/bug_bites.html

Other Biodiversity Web Sites in BC

Accidental Species in BC

The fauna of British Columbia consists of a complement of species that include BC in their natural range or distribution. But occasionally other species find their way to BC. Recently sighted accidental species in BC include the Ribbon Seal, the Red-Flanked Bluetail, and the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle. Click on the links to read about them on E-Fauna BC.